Jack Wilshire, the youngest player to represent Arsenal in league football, has all the qualities to become the next Dennis Bergkamp according to Arsène Wenger.

The 16-year-old made his senior debut against Blackburn and scored his first goal as part of the youthful Gunners side which ripped Sheffield United apart during their Carling Cup run. The Arsenal manager says the teenager — who joined the club when he was nine — has all the traits to become a hero at the Emirates Stadium.

"I believe he will end up a central midfielder, just off the striker in the Bergkamp role," Wenger said. "I am convinced he will have tremendous penetrative power and we forget that this boy is only 16 and already has so much power — you give him four more years and he will be massively strong.

"He can find the final ball and can also score goals. He is a passionate and committed guy, he is not afraid of tackles and you would want this type of player to finish off central. But I would not like to put too much pressure on him because of the expectation level. That is one of the problems you have when you are talented and very young — Theo Walcott went through that.

"At the start there is a lot of enthusiasm around players and suddenly afterwards people say 'oh he is not as good as we thought he would be', there is a lot of scepticism around the player. He has to survive at the top level and it is not easy. Theo coped well with that and I am confident we can surround Jack well enough to deal with it."

The Frenchman says he will only dip into the January sales if he can find "something special". "At the moment, I am more [keen] to develop the team we have. When you look at our players, most of them are under 21 and there is a lot to come from them," he said. "If it appears we can make something special, then we will do it — but at the moment I can sincerely say we have not seen anything special that can really convince us we will be much stronger."